Weekend Box Office Report: It’s Good To Be The King

Conventional wisdom is that audiences are always craving something new. Cynical wisdom is that “new” is that absolute last thing most audience members want, and the 3D rerelease of The Lion Kingwould seem to affirm the latter wisdom more than the former. The 3D version of the movie every kid in America already owns on DVD made a very generous $29 million in its opening weekend (of a two-week “limited engagement”).

Holding the number 2 spot was last week’s big opener Contagion with a respectable $14.5 million weekend gross. The critically stratospheric (but unfortunately unseen by me this weekend) Drive had a nice, indie-friendly 3rd place opening of $11 million. Maybe it’ll do better when it gets rereleased in 3D. (The Playlist)